“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan was a story about she had a mother that was a Chinese immigrant who was struggling to learn the English language. Tan refers her language as formal English, but when she is around her mother, she realizes that her language is not the same as her mother. "Public and Private Language" by Richard Rodriguez is a story about this young boy named Rodriguez spoke fluent Spanish but was having a hard time learning a new language, English. The teacher went to his house so Rodriguez's family can be involved with helping him learn English. While parents were learning to speak English, Rodriguez became confident because he had learned a new language, English in public while his native Spanish language in private. The two authors in the readings “Mother Tongue” and “Public and Private Language” are from different cultures, but both explore the importance of language on family relationships. …show more content…
In the story, Tan explains that Asian students are a stereotype to be better with math and science but not in English. She states, “Asian students, as a whole always do significantly better on math achievement test than in English” (Tan 4). She is saying that she does like English, but the people of her race usually go for math. She’s doing something different from what’s expected in her culture. The phrase “Mother Tongue” means the language that a person has grown up speaking from early childhood. Throughout the story called “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan has explained that her mother’s Mother tongue is Asian. Her mother was only taught to speak her native language, so it was hard for her to learn a new one,